I can’t believe I missed this post the first time around. Mr. Greenfield writes: “What I’m looking for from designers is tactful acceptance that I intend to use their product to serve my own (now ludic, now serious) ends, rather than a positive assertion that they’ve a priori understood what makes something fun.” The ensuing discussion (involving, a.o., Jane McGonigal, Raph Koster and Matt Jones) is pure gold. It’s about whether designers should aim to improve people’s lives, and what it means to design playful things in the first place.
Personally, I would buy the guy or gal who is brave enough to even attempt a faithful & equally poetic translation into English of Dimitri Verhulst’s book a large dinner at Wilhelminapark – a daunting, but worthy task. Wouldn’t it be brilliant if we could get that book to the people you mention in the top half of your post? I imagine they would all love it.
I imagine so as well! That offer of a dinner at Wilhelminapark makes me consider trying my hand at a translation myself…